POTTSTOWN — After 18 years under the current ownership, On The Third Day/Master’s Mercantile Christian bookstore has closed.
The bookstore at 142 Shoemaker Road in Pottstown has been owned by Charlene Palmer Wiggs since 2007, after she interned with and then purchased the business from the store’s original owners, Dennis and Edie Eckert. It was known then as Master’s Mercantile.
Saturday, July 26 was the last day customers could shop at the store. Earlier this week, Wiggs and her staff were putting the final remaining items into boxes and loading them onto a U-Haul.
At the same time, customers stopped in or called to say goodbye. Wiggs kept the door unlocked for those who wanted to stop in. On Monday and Tuesday, she said, some people wanted to see if there was anything left, so she let them look through some of the remaining items.
On Thursday, Wiggs was scheduled to officially turn the keys back into the landlord.
The good wishes from customers, Wiggs said during an interview this week, “make you feel great and awful, all at the same time. You don’t want to let anyone down, but it’s the right time now.”
The reason for the closure, she said, is that she and her husband John, want to spend more time with their parents, all of whom are in their 80s.
“We’d like to spend more time with them because they’re still able to go and do things,” Wiggs said, adding that her husband retired from his job several months ago. She said John’s parents live in Indiana, while her father is in western Pennsylvania and her mother is in Nevada.
The store was originally located at 204 Shoemaker Road. Wiggs renamed the store On The Third Day when she bought it, but kept Master’s Mercantile in the name as well. She moved the store to its current location in 2014.
A Christian bookstore, the shop has sold books, gifts, “a little bit of everything,” Wiggs said. The store also offered laser engraving, and Wiggs said that was one reason for the relocation.
“To have that machine, I needed a bigger location,” she said.
Part of the Community
Wiggs said the last 18 years have been great, and the heart of the business has been the people and the relationships.
“We have, like, four generations of customers that shop in this store,” she said. “I know all their names. It’s been kind of like a family.”
Over the years, Wiggs said she has had about 30 employees. And while several worked with her for several years, two employees have been with her for 14 years — Heidi Heintz and Stephanie Rosenberger.
“It’s been about the relationships with people over the years. I walk away from this with a lot of love in my heart,” Heintz said. “I am super thankful for all the years.”
Heintz has taken a job with Munce Group Marketing, a marketing group focused on supporting Christian retailers. In her new position, Heintz said, instead of working with customers, she will be working with stores.
“Yes, this has been a job, but it has never felt like a job. They (Wiggs and Heintz) are family, just as the customers have become family — and friends,” Rosenberger said.
As for her next step, Rosenberger said she has a few opportunities, “but for now I am trusting the Lord with it.”
Wiggs said On The Third Day is a small business, “but it was a ministry that touched a lot of different parts of the community.” Over the years, she said they worked with Pottstown Beacon of Hope, and for about 10 years, the store collected daily for the Salvation Army in Pottstown with an in-store kettle.
“We tried to really be part of the community. We love the people and in any way we could help, we tried to,” she added.
Looked For a Buyer
Wiggs announced that the business would be closing back in April. A video post on the store’s Facebook page broke the news to customers — she broke the news to former owner Dennis Eckert before making the public announcement.
Wiggs looked for someone willing to purchase the business, announcing it in catalogs, on Facebook, through letters and in area church bulletins.
Wiggs said she talked to about 15 people and four of them were serious. Three of the four, she said, had a time constraint and the fourth couldn’t figure out the finances.
“It’s been a roller coaster. We wanted it to stay, and were relying on the Lord to say if it’s his will, he will make it happen,” she said. When a sale didn’t happen, Wiggs said they tried to do the best they could “to make people as happy as they can be with us leaving.”
Wiggs said they did spotlights of customers and took a lot of pictures with customers. She gave customers information about another store in Emmaus, but their response, she said, was — “they’re not you.”
Over the past days, Wiggs said people have been bringing in flowers and cards, which filled the counter of the store.
“This has been 18 years of a blessing for us to be able to serve the community,” Wiggs added.
One thing she said she is happy about — businesses and people have bought the store’s fixtures over the past few weeks.
Freestanding book shelves have gone to Shepherd of the Hills Church in Gilbertsville, for the church’s bookstore. The store’s laser engraver has gone to Jen Park, owner of Grace Salon and Gift, at the Shoppes at Coventry, in North Coventry Township, Wiggs said.
